DATE: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
TIME: 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm AEST
VENUE: RACV Club, 501 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Places are strictly limited at the Roundtable. If you wish to attend, please contact Jo Ryan on jryan@infodec.com.au.
Speaker:
Dr Stephen King – Commissioner, Productivity Commission
Dr Stephen P King commenced a 5-year term as a full-time Commissioner with the Productivity Commission in July 2016. Stephen was reappointed for a further 5-year term as a part-time Commissioner in January 2022. He was recently a Professor of Economics at Monash University in Melbourne, where he also held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics from 2009-2011.
Prior to joining Monash, Stephen was a Member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), where he chaired the Mergers Review Committee. Previous roles include Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne and Professor of Management (Economics) at the Melbourne Business School.
Stephen’s main areas of expertise are in microeconomic theory, competition economics, regulation and industrial organisation. His research has been published widely, including articles in major international economics journals.
Stephen is a Professor of Practice at Monash University, a member of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and a lay member of the High Court of New Zealand. He has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. He received the Distinguished Public Policy Fellow award from the Economics Society of Australia in 2021 for his contributions to economic policy.
Dr King is currently a Commissioner for the Harnessing Data and Digital Technology inquiry.
Moderated By
George Siolis – Partner, RBB Economics
George is a Partner at RBB Economics in Melbourne. He has worked as a micro-economist for 30 years in the public and private sector in worked in both Australia and the UK.
George has acted as an expert economist in competition and regulatory proceedings before the Federal Court of Australia, the Australian Competition Tribunal and State Supreme Courts as well as in arbitrations. He has also participated in “hot tubs” with other expert economists. He is listed in Who’s Who Legal as a leading competition economist in Australia and is a member of the Competition and Consumer Committee (Business Law Section) of the Law Council of Australia.
George has advised on many of the most contentious mergers before the ACCC since he joined RBB Economics in 2009 and advises on matters relating to anti-competitive agreements and misuse of market power, including acting for TasPorts in the first section 46 matter bought by the ACCC since that prohibition was amended.
He advises in matters involving refusals to supply access to essential inputs or facilities, cartels, damage estimation and other matters involving valuations. He regularly advises on regulatory proceedings that raise competition issues and recently developed an economic methodology to assist the court arrive at a “fair and reasonable” price that was viewed favourably by the judge.
Industries that George has advised on include financial services, communications, aviation, pharmaceuticals, fast moving consumer goods, port and marine services, retailing, two-sided markets and digital platforms, manufacturing, transport and logistics, rail, and waste and water management.
George also regularly undertakes profitability assessments, examines whether firms have substantial market power, and considers the competitive effects of horizontal and vertical agreements, including advising Tooltechnic on the first authorisation of Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) in Australia.
Prior to joining RBB, George worked for Telstra and was also an economic consultant in the UK for eight years, where he developed and led the communications practice at Europe Economics. George began his career at the Productivity Commission (formerly the Industry Commission) in their Canberra and Melbourne offices and was awarded the Commission’s first Overseas Development Award.
This event is coordinated by the IIC Australian Chapter and kindly supported by
